Kevin Hart Admits He Would Not Host the Oscars If Asked Again: ‘I Don’t Believe in Going Backwards’

Kevin Hart seems unsure about whether or not he’d retake the Oscars hosting job if offered to him a second time following the controversy in December.

After the actor opened up on the subject during his first television interview since the scandal during Friday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show where he reopened the door to emceeing the event, in an interview with Variety a few hours before the episode aired, Hart said he would not return if the Oscars asked him back.

“Would I ever do it? No, it’s done. It’s done,” Hart told the publication Friday. “The moment came and it was a blessing and I was excited at the opportunity and I still am. In my mind I got the job, it was a dream job, and things came up that simply prohibited it from happening. But I don’t believe in going backwards.”

During the interview, however, Hart seemed to warm up a little to the idea of returning. While talking to DeGeneres, Hart revealed he was reconsidering his decision to step down as host after controversy surfaced from old homophobic tweets, and his refusal to apologize for them at the time.

The talk show host revealed during the segment that she herself reached out to the Motion Picture Academy to advocate for Hart to be reinstated, which many fans criticized on social media earlier Friday.

When the Jumanji 2 star was announced as the host for the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, the news brought fierce backlash from LGBT fans and allies. He at first refused to apologize for his old homophobic comments, though later he issued an apology when he tweeted out his decision to step away from the job.

Hart insisted to Variety that he would not want to take on the job after the controversy.

“When I go on that stage, it will be because I’ve somehow figured out a way to win the Oscar,” Hart said. “Somehow I’ll get to the stage but it’s not going to be in this way because it just comes with such a weird cloud at this point.”

He added, however, “There’s no ill will toward the Academy.”

Hart also reiterated his initial comments, which he made in his refuels to apologize when the scandal first surface, criticizing trolls for going though his tweets and digging out old information to make him look bad.

“You’re living in times where words and points of view can be misconstrued because of how strong the internet is,” Hart said. “The manipulation of headlines is what was amazing when this whole thing hit. It was, ‘Kevin Hart steps down because he refuses to apologize for homophobic tweets.’ This was what was said and it was blasted all over the internet, and the word ‘again’ somehow got lost, which was a major word. I’ve addressed this several times.”

Whether Hart will return to the gig in the future remains to be seen, as the Academy Awards have not announced a replacement for the Feb. 27 ceremony so far, though the actor added another apology for his words during the interview.

“I stepped down because I’m not going to allow this to tarnish an amazing night for the other actors and actresses that are going to be on stage that night,” Hart said. “It shouldn’t be about Kevin Hart and his tweets of old. And I’ll state it again, to anybody I’ve hurt, I’m sorry.”